Priorities

From the major Sacramento newspaper:

Sacramento City Unified School District trustees approved their worst-case budget scenario for next school year at a board meeting Thursday evening.

Unless a tax extension, advocated by Gov. Jerry Brown, is placed on a June ballot and passed by voters, the school district will cut financial support for such things as sports, band, cheerleading, choir, drama and yearbook.

In addition, Sacramento City Unified will lay off the equivalent of about 355 full-time teachers, principals, counselors and librarians, further increase class sizes, make additional cuts to adult education and slash the salaries of all employees by 5 percent.

I don't know how much money extracurricular activities like sports and cheerleading cost a school district, but if you've got to cut, I can understand why even a modest savings in those areas would have to be considered.

What I don't understand is band class, choir, drama, and yearbook. Those are classes conducted during the academic day. Eliminate them, and the students will still have to be in class somewhere. What class will they be put in? Eliminate a drama teacher and you'll need another teacher in another class to take those students. Where is the savings?

Yes, class sizes will be increased, but I have to believe only by a little bit. Class sizes in my district are currently capped at 36--that's right, non-Californians, I said 36. How many more would they put in a class? Say it goes up to 40, an increase of 11%. We have enough teachers at my school that we could absorb such an increase if the classes above were eliminated. But that analysis is too simplistic. Students are already taking an English class, and since they're not going to take two English classes at once, the English teachers aren't going to accept any of the extra burden. Same with the math teachers. Same with the science teachers. Etc. So you can get rid of a math teacher if you increase math class sizes, and the same with an English teacher--but where do the former drama and choir and band and yearbook students go?

I'd really like someone to explain this to me.

Getting Your Kid Into College

Here's one dad's story:

The admissions process, as Andrew Ferguson puts it in his new book, “Crazy U,” entangles not just our pocketbooks but everything else that, besides world peace and cocktail hour, matters to parents: “our vanities, our social ambitions and class insecurities, and most profoundly our love and hopes for our children.”

Mr. Ferguson is a senior editor at The Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine, and he’s a valiant guide through this emotional territory...

“Crazy U” is a chronicle of Mr. Ferguson’s attempts to help place his son, who is 16 when this mini-odyssey begins, in a decent college. Mr. Ferguson’s boy (he is never named) is only an average student, and his father fears for him in a process that’s become a nationwide talent hunt favoring teenage extroverts and self-marketers. “I wasn’t sure,” he writes, “my son had the personality for it.” He means that as a compliment.

Just Finished Another Roundtable on Neil's Radio Show

As I mentioned in this post from 2 nights ago that I would be, tonight I was part of a roundtable discussion on Neil Haley's radio show--the topic was education reform. I joined Larry Sand (President of the California Teachers Empowerment Network) on the "right" side, and blogger Bronx Teacher joined The Frustrated Teacher blogger on the left. Personally, I think Larry and I cleaned their clocks, but what do you expect me to say?! Listen for yourself and decide--download the podcast at iTunes. The title is Total Education Show Presents The Great Education Reform Debate 3, released 3/4/2011. It's an hour and a half show, so make sure you're in your comfy chair!

How Good Is Your School?

Is it as good as other, similar schools?

California parents have yet another way to assess how their local schools are doing.

The California Charter Schools Association has developed a new metric, called a Similar Student Measure [PDF], to assess how a school's students perform on state tests compared to other schools serving similar students. The measure is used to identify which schools overperform or underperform over a three-year period by comparing a school's Academic Performance Index to a predicted API that controls for the impact of students' background in those schools.

The measure was developed to assess how charter schools are doing compared to regular public schools, but could have wider utility for the majority of schools in California.

They claim their methodology is superior to the state's "similar schools ranking".

Friday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
1867.

Today's question is:
Who were Tarzan's mother and father?

I'm Glad To Have Been Wrong

I'll give credit where it's due--Harvard President Drew Faust is being true to her word:

Harvard University is welcoming the Reserve Officer Training Corps program back to campus after a four-decade banishment caused by dissent over the Vietnam War and disagreement on military policy toward gays.

The move by Harvard comes just months after Congress in December repealed the military ban on gays serving openly.

On Friday, Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus are scheduled to sign an agreement that will establish the Naval ROTC’s formal presence on the Cambridge campus, the university announced Thursday.

Under the agreement, a director of Naval ROTC at Harvard will be appointed, and the university will resume funding the program, which will be given office space and access to athletic fields and classrooms.

Will the others fall in line?

To Everything There Is A Season

Ronald McDonald, who became the clown mascot of McDonald's restaurants when I was a toddler, is no more:

It seems as though McDonald’s has closed the coffin on the clown. Ronald McDonald — the chain’s goofy, red-headed mascot of 48 years — has outworn his welcome under the golden arches in a corporate effort to create a more chic and sophisticated image of Mickey D’s. After increased competition from chains like Starbucks, the fast-food giant is more focused on selling profitable coffee drinks and trendy salads than Big Macs and McFlurrys...

Consumers link the Ronald McDonald character to the old, high-fat foods that are decreasing in popularity among an increasingly health conscious America, the Daily Finance reports.

And a racial dig?

Well, whether McDonald’s wants to be known for cheap late-night food or “high class” coffee, their advertising plan remains the same: Black culture will be exploited either way (see the rapping dollar menu girl and the poetry spitting McCafe guy).

I wonder if Ronald McDonald Charities, and the Ronald McDonald Houses, will change their names.

We Didn't Have Classes Like This At My School

Wow.

More than 100 Northwestern University students watched as a naked 25-year-old woman was penetrated by a sex toy wielded by her fiancee during an after-class session of the school’s popular “Human Sexuality” class.

The woman said she showed up at the Feb. 21 lecture in the Ryan Family Auditorium in Evanston expecting just to answer questions, but was game to demonstrate. The course’s professor on Wednesday acknowledged some initial hesitation, but said student feedback was “uniformly positive.”

And Northwestern defended the class and its professor.

What words and phrases come to mind? Decency. Boundaries. Common sense. All three of them are lacking.

Update, 3/5/11: I guess it got a little hot in the kitchen:

A Northwestern University professor has apologized for allowing a couple to demonstrate the use of a sex toy after one of his classes.

But J. Michael Bailey said Saturday that he sees "absolutely no harm" in what happened.

The psychology professor said he regrets upsetting people and hurting Northwestern's reputation.

I Could Use Some Time Off.....

Talk about administrative stupidity:

A California school teacher was placed on paid administrative leave after he rattled a table to get the attention of his math students, startling an eighth-grade girl who used her cell phone to call police...

Officers found a calm teacher with class in session.

The sergeant says the teacher's table-rattling startled a student and she used her cell phone to call 911. He says other students in the class weren't bothered by the teacher's actions.

What lessons have just been taught to those students? I hope that teacher enjoys his or her well-deserved break.

Thursday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Shangri-La.

Today's question is:
In what year did the US purchase Alaska from Russia?

Not Union-Busting, But A Needed Correction

Public employee unions have become too powerful, and their relationship with the government needs to be righted. Nobody is trying to do away with public unions; rather, current Republican efforts in Wisconsin and Ohio are nothing more than attempts to restore some balance to the union-government-taxpayer equation:

The problem with collective bargaining by public employees is that these unions are unchecked by competition and wield massive influence as they help to elect their bosses. I get why Wisconsin public employees view Walker's proposal as an assault, but I see a sensible measure to rein in the tendency of pols to serve narrow interests at the expense of the commonweal.

Hat tip to Joanne for the link above.

Just Interviewed On Neil Haley's Show on BlogTalkRadio

After participating in a roundtable on Neil's show a month ago, Neil had me back on tonight for a 30-minute one-on-one interview about blogging, being a conservative teacher, and other topics.

Among other methods, you can download and listen to the free podcast on iTunes (search podcasts for "BTR" or "Total Education Show").

Friday night at 8 PST I'll again join Larry Sand of the California Teachers Empowerment Network for another roundtable discussion regarding education. I believe you can listen live--and call in!--using the blogtalkradio section of this page.

Wednesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Will Rogers.

Today's question is:
In Lost Horizon, what is the name of the paradise that is hidden in a secret valley in the Himalayas?

When You Live In The Sacramento Valley, You Pay Attention To This Kind Of Information

From the Tahoe Daily Tribune:

Hydrologists from the state Department of Water Resources took manual and electronic readings for the third time this winter and they found that water content in the Sierra snowpack is 124 percent of normal for this time of year...

The snowpack, which provides about one-third of the water for California through its runoff, dictates how much water will be delivered to farms and cities through the rest of the year. The state estimated it will be able to deliver 60 percent of the water requested.

And from the major Sacramento newspaper:

Water releases from Folsom Dam into the American River will more than triple over the next two hours to make room for the next wet storm moving into the Sacramento region.

The Rich Pay No Taxes

That's what the lefties tell me, anyway, but that's not what the CBO says:

In comments on my post on Rand Paul and David Letterman, some commenters expressed interest in seeing the data on overall federal tax burden, not just the burden of the federal income tax. As it happens, the Congressional Budget Office reports such data. I would reprint their tables but I haven't yet figured out how to do that. So here is the link for 2006 data. Click on their data and you'll get an Excel spreadsheet that shows the following:

. The bottom quintile paid 4.3 percent of income in taxes,
. The top quintile paid 25.8 percent of income in taxes,
. The top decile paid 27.5 percent of income in taxes,
. The top 5 percent paid 29.0 percent of income in taxes, and
. The top 1 percent paid 31.2 percent of income in taxes.

In other words, it's still the case that the higher your income, the higher a percent of your income you pay in taxes.

So the existence of Social Security, while it reduces the "progressivity" of the tax system, does not come close to reversing it. I would note also, though, that most economists who examine the "progressivity" of the Social Security system also take account of the Social Security benefit formula. This gives a much higher percent of income to low-income people than to high-income people.

Just tossing facts out, there.

Tuesday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
The Bank of Italy.

Today's question is:
After whom is Oklahoma City's airport named?

Teacher Fired Over A Bumper Sticker

A teacher in Arizona had a bumper sticker, one of many, which read, "Have you drugged your kid today"--an obvious reference to Ritalin and similar drugs. This particular bumper sticker upset some parents, and the (public charter) school administration asked her either to remove that sticker or park elsewhere. She refused to do either, and got fired.

Now, this teacher is no genius. One of her other bumper stickers says, "I'm already against the next war". Good to know there's nothing she's willing to fight for--except the "right" to have bumper stickers on her car, I guess. But even idiots have free speech rights, and if there's nothing more to the story than what I've written above, she's right and the school is wrong.

Update, 3/13/11: This time it's a bus driver:

An Oregon school bus driver fired after he refused to remove a Confederate battle flag flying from his pickup truck has enlisted the help of a conservative civil liberties group in hopes of getting his job back.

Hat tip to Colossus of Rhodey for the link.

A White Guy Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

Is this where we're headed?

Colby Bohannan said that when he first applied to college, his family didn't have a huge stockpile of money set aside to pay for school. He found many scholarships for women and minorities, but none aimed at people like him: white men.

"I felt excluded," said Bohannan, a Texas State University student. "If everyone else can find scholarships, why are we left out?"

So Bohannan, a mass communication major and Iraq war veteran, and others formed the Former Majority Association for Equality — a San Marcos-based nonprofit group that is offering five $500 scholarships exclusively to white male students.

Bohannan, the group's president, said the name comes from the idea that "if you're not a male, and if you're not white, you're called a minority." However, he said, "I'm not sure white males are the majority anymore"...

Applicants need to be at least 25 percent Caucasian, have a GPA exceeding 3.0 and demonstrate financial need.

Monday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Seth.

Today's question is:
What was Bank of America's original name?

Sunday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Peter Graves.

Today's question is:
Cain and Abel were Adam and Eve's first two children. Who was their third?